166 HOW TO PLAN THE HOME GROUNDS 



In the case of rocks in landscape, it is very much the 

 same way as with the man of ten talents in scripture. 

 To the territory abounding with boulders and out-crop- 

 ping stone, more will be brought, and in the region 

 where there is a dearth of stone, even those that happen 

 to be there will be removed. Thus, for example, take 

 a trench, or stony ditch, through which a natural stream 

 runs, and you wish to make it more picturesque, and 

 enhance its possibilities as a characteristic and beautiful 

 feature : even if it b^ cut through solid rock you may 

 add still other rocks^and boulders, and, setting them 

 here and there, secure the finest effect possible. 



On the other hand, if the cut happens to go through 

 clear, solid earth, with hardly a stone, you will be very 

 careful to remove any accidental-looking stone that may 

 be seen. The writer does not attempt to lay down 

 absolute directions, covering any and all cases — that is 

 impossible — but he merely indicates the way in which the 

 trained mind would, in such matters, set to work. 



In the same spirit he wishes to emphasize the fact 

 that the use of rocks should always be taken up with the 

 utmost deliberation, because the misplacement of such 

 objects as rocks is much more serious than the improper 

 location of plants. The plants have, as a rule, a beauty 

 of their own, irrespective of position, which is much 

 greater than that of individual rocks, and, besides, 

 plants have a certain indeterminateness of outline that is 

 always less offensive under adverse circumstances than 

 the rigid and sharply outlined masses of rocks. 



What the writer especially wishes to explain is, that 

 rock-work should have a definite fundamental scheme, 

 springing naturally from the shape of the ground and 

 nature of its rocky contents, and that the carrying out 



